Preamble

Millions of people around the world are locked in cages, unnecessarily isolated from their communities. Their contact with their families, and access to legal, health, rehabilitation and educational services are restricted due to physical barriers. In the past, those barriers have made such access difficult, impossible or impossibly expensive. The general population now has access to the internet where communication and information is available, often publicly funded, for little or no cost. This has disadvantaged detainees as email and websites have displaced letters and correspondence courses.

More and more, access to the Internet is necessary to function at a basic level – socially, legally, and politically.  We live in a digital age, but detainees are further disadvantaged by being left digitally illiterate and without the skills to contribute to the welfare of themselves, their families, and society at large. 

The Nairobi Declaration for Detainee Telecommunications Rights

All detainees have the human right to:

1) Communicate with others through telecommunications: email, messaging and video calls;
2) Express themselves publicly;
3) Receive publicly available information, including but not restricted to legal, telehealth, education and counselling information;
4) Earn payment through services rendered in their private time, enabling them to maintain their families, contribute to society and prepare for release;
5) Access such services on the same level of availability and financial basis as water, food and bedding.

Why Should I endorse the Declaration?

A declaration is nothing without the international support behind it backing and fighting for the principles that the declaration supports. With the overarching goal of gaining United Nation’s recognition of the Nairobi Declaration of paramount importance to us, each additional endorsement moves us one step closer to international adoption of the agreement.

While people may be detained for justifiable reasons, there is also a need to still treat them like human beings and extend to them the rights afforded to most in the outside world. Access to telecommunications and to information is paramount to ensure that prisoners are able to contact friends, loved ones, and legal counsel, while also allowing opportunities for them to develop skills to use when they are released to the outside world to help them reintegrate into general society.

You can read more at nairobideclaration.org